18 September 2007

Roger Federer's dominance over the tennis world has quickly turned him into one of the all-time greats. And his legend is about to grow into an indestructible force. He's being immortalized as a terracotta warrior.

The world number one's life-sized sculpture is among a collection of eight being made to mark the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai in November.

With a collection of the Terracotta Army on show at the British Museum in London, the ATP have commissioned French sculptor Laury Dizengremel to create similar models of the players who will appear in China.

Sculptures of Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic have already been commissioned, and there are still five spots left. Players like Andy Roddick may be competing for money and trophies in the coming months, but they'll also have an extra incentive - the opportunity to be immortalized. And for athletes that can have it all...this is probably one thing they don't yet have.

"I think that being sculpted as a terracotta warrior is an honor, I think the idea is fun, bringing together culture and sport, and I'm looking forward to seeing the final result," said Federer.

Federer will join a group that's been around for a long, long time. The original Terracotta Army was created in order to be buried alongside the Emperor of Qin around 210-209 BCE. Qin's army was believed to have taken 700,000 people 38 years to complete. Now that's some company!

The Army was found in 1974, and to date 8.099 figures have been unearthed. The Emperor's tomb is a major tourist attraction in China, and the Masters Cup is hoping to capture that same attention and excitement.

Federer is worthy of this truly great promotion...as long as a swoosh doesn't end up on the statue.

8 comments:

Of course, Roger Federer is a gifted athlete, but could he have a secret weapon that gives him an edge on the tennis court? You might be surprised to know that Roger Federer makes use of gadget called a BEMER. This is a portable pulsed magnetic field device which speeds healing of muscle and tendons after tough tennis matches. According to the BEMER web site, Roger and many other athletes have been using a portable pulsed magnetic therapy unit regularly.